Comcast Ventures Sets Sights On Blockchain with New Investment
Why is Comcast Ventures, the venture capital arm of Comcast Corporation, putting more of an emphasis on blockchain technology?
On Monday, Comcast announced that it has invested in startup incubator MState, and the deal signals that the venture arm is increasing its investments in blockchain technology.
“In 2018 we’re doubling down on blockchain,” says Gil Beyda, managing director of Comcast Ventures, recently told TechCrunch. Comcast Ventures invested $250,000 into MState, an accelerator for enterprise blockchain companies.
MState invests in promising blockchain companies globally and help them scale to work with Fortune 500 companies. Other companies backing MState are IBM and Galvanize, a technology incubator, venture fund and coding school.
In addition to Mstate, Comcast also began accepting applications for it 13-week accelerator in partnership with Techstars, which allows participants to focus on blockchain technology. For Comcast, the interest in blockchain centers on royalty tracking, identity and digital rights management, Beyda said.
Comcast Ventures invests across different classes, committing anywhere from $500,000 to $20 million in the companies it backs, Beyda said. The CVC has also committed a few million dollars to a blockchain-focused fund as a fund-of-fund investment. And one of the firm’s portfolio companies, YouNow, is following the “when in doubt, ICO,” route.
Comcast Advanced Advertising Group also said last June that it would create a new platform called The Blockchain Insights Platform in 2018 that will allow marketers to make ad buys in broadcast and streaming TV using blockchain technology. Participants in the platform include Disney, NBC Universal, Altice USA, Channel 4 U.K., Cox Communications, Mediaset Italia and France’s TF1 Group, according to a Comcast statement.
“Basically, any company that deals with any transactions … will be remade through blockchain tech,” Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director of Hyperledger, told INV Global.
Comcast is not a member of Hyperledger, but Hyperledger is an umbrella project of open source blockchains under the Linux Foundation.
Comcast Ventures did not respond to requests for comment by presstime.
